First aid immobilization techniques for broken arms and legs have advanced from the old wooden splint to inflated balloon and the like. Unfortunately, no such advancement has occasioned the far more dangerous injury to the pelvis and hips. Presently, the common first aid treatment is to lay the patient on a stretcher and load, transport and unload the injured patient still using the stretcher.
A stretcher is strictly a sling-type device, usually a canvas cloth supported by a stiff wood-frame perimeter. This construction causes the patient to sway and be jostled about during transportation. Such is a dangerous practice with pelvic and hip injuries; the close proximity of arteries and major veins to the pelvic girdle raises the possibility that any such body movement may cause the fractured bones to pinch, tear, or lacerate one of them. Since the stretcher is long, it often requires the injured patient to be dragged away from the accident scene before being placed thereon thus amplifying the pelvic and leg injuries. In addition, the stretcher is quite long and, although foldable when empty to allow entry through small doors and passageways, is often too long to properly carry the injured patient out through these same openings. Thus, there is yet to be developed a suitable device for direct application to the pelvic or leg-injured patient, at or near the accident scene, that allows the injury to be immobilized during transportation to the care facility.